SATA, The interface, is faster. Just because you saddle sata with a slow device, doesn't mean that SATA is slow, your device is slow.
What you are saying is akin to saying something like this
"USB 3.0 is the same speed as USB 1.0 because I plugged in my printer in a USB 3.0 port and saw no difference in speed".
Completely not true. The interface is capable of much faster communication, your device, isn't.
SATA is faster then PATA. SATA devices MIGHT not be faster then PATA but they have the bandwidth available to be faster.
This thread is about SATA vs. PATA
DVD drives.
If you want to argue on the merit of other devices which benefit from the SATA interface speed, feel free to argue that in another thread or create your own.
Can anyone answer my technical questions?
At what "*.*"X speed would DVD Burners be bottlenecked on a PATA interface?
At what "*.*"X speed would Blu-Ray burners/readers be bottlenecked on a PATA interface?
So far the only benefit I see is less cable clutter.
The disadvantage of course is you lose a SATA port(If your mobo has limited SATA ports or you're a storage junkie with lots of HDD's).
The point of the OP's thread isn't really clear...
Is he looking to buy a DVD drive simply because he doesn't have one or it's slow? If so, go with SATA.
If he already has a PATA DVD drive and wants to see if there's any benefit to upgrading to SATA and shelling out $30 for a new drive, then there's a bit of cloud there.
I personally wouldn't buy a new SATA DVD drive simply because it's now becoming an industry standard if my PATA drive works fine and isn't bottlenecked by the interface.
If I was buying a new DVD drive, then sure SATA no question.